Portugal 2 Netherlands 1 The Dutch are gone amid much sobbin’. Some players shone – alas, not Robben. The Dutch are beat amid controversy but do not fret about van Persie. The Dutch fly home, van Bommel’s sighing. The aerodrome rings out with crying. The Dutch are gone. Could shots go wider? Some blame lies […]

Oh Lord, give us something to shout about, to make us forget all our woes. Something we’ll be able to spout about wherever the sweet Guinness flows. A deft Houghton header? A great Whelan screamer? Am I too demanding? Am I just a dreamer? Oh Lord, give us something to shout about, to make us […]

Spain 1 Croatia 0 The Croatians knew they could dam the stream and stem the flowing tide, though there were few believed the dream that Spain could be defied. To give them their due, there remained a gleam that their tournament hadn’t died, but what can you do when the Spanish team has Jesus in […]

Italy 2 Ireland 0 It’s the end of the Euros as we know it. When we needed it fast, we chose to slow it. The gulf was too great for us to row it. The grass was too long for us to mow it. The rip was too large for us to sew it. Our […]

England 1 Ukraine 0 This England team is difficult to figure, a riddle and a puzzle, an enigma. When they attack, they’re making schoolboys snigger and still they have the old defensive stigma. They’re ponderous and beatable and eminently defeatable but though they should be firmly in the soup, still, they very easily topped their […]